Hunted
by parakeetlover
Summary: Larissa Trask's day begins pleasantly enough before she runs into Slenderman in the forest. A mysterious group of people save her life and inform her that she can't return home, and that until Slenderman is destroyed, her life is in danger. Will the group be able to end Slenderman and return to their families? And what will be revealed on their journey to do so?


Hunted

Chapter One

AN: Sorry for the irregular indents. If someone could tell me how to get tab to work while editing, I would appreciate that.

Larissa Trask stepped out of her white two-story home, looking forward to a bit of hiking. She carried nothing with her, as the teenager knew the woods around her home by heart. It was a warm day and the sun shone with nothing to hinder it. The brunette walked cheerfully into the forest, enjoying the feeling of the sun on her and the leaves caressing her skin. She was two hours' distance from her house when she felt a slight breeze at her back. It wasn't uncommon for the weather to suddenly turn nasty, so she sighed, looked up at the sky, and studied it. The sun offered its rays cheerfully. _It's not time for it to start to get cold, _Larissa thought. The teenager looked about her. Seeing nothing, she shrugged and moved on.

Two minutes later, the brunette heard a slight rustling. It was subtle, but she was intimate with all the sounds her forest offered, and there was something off about this. It didn't match up with rustling foliage, or animals going about their business. Larissa surveyed her surroundings. She saw a tall, slender man wearing a suit in the distance. His back was to her.

"Hello." The teenager took a step forward. "Are you lost?"

There was no response.

"Do you need help or something?"

The thing turned around, blank pale face revealed, and Larissa screamed. Without pausing to think, she closed her mouth, turned around, and sprinted in the direction of home.

When she reached her house, she was panting, walking, and felt just about ready to die. But there was no sign of the monster, and that was what mattered. _What the Hell was that? _The young woman yanked the door open and slammed the door shut behind her, locking it securely, though somehow she doubted something as normal as a lock would stop the very _unnormal_ thing she had run across. She walked around her house, latching every window and drawing every blind, wondering all the while what she'd do. Larissa spent no time worrying over her sanity: she didn't drink, smoke, or do drugs, and as far as she was concerned, the most insane thing she'd ever done was stay with her old ex-boyfriend for more than a day. The teenager trusted her eyes and her mind as much as any person could. She knew what she had seen in the forest was as real as the wind or the leaves had been. But what now? How could she witness that monstrous face, feel that eerie presence, and feel safe ever again? Larissa knew nothing about the creature. She didn't know whether it would hunt her, or leave her be, but figured it was best not to take any chances. Because her parent's were off for a day of fun, she was left all alone. Larissa found her father's gun. The brunette stroked the black pistol, recalling the day her father had shown her how to use it. He'd looked straight into her eyes.

"_Now, I believe everyone, especially young women, should know how to defend themselves if the need ever arises. We were given the right to bear arms, and Lord help me if I didn't take advantage of that fact and made my family a safe as possible," her father said. Larissa rolled her eyes, for she sincerely doubted she'd ever need to use the gun cradled in her father's large, rough hands. Crime rates were on the decline, and she figured her hometown was about the safest in America. For Heaven's sake, stealing was scandalous in her town. Despite his daughter's attitude, the father went on, and on…and on. He lectured her on gun safety, on how to aim and where, everything she needed to know. All the while his serious brown eyes bored into hers, letting her know that as lame as he might seem to her, what he wanted for her was safety, a long life spent in contentment. Larissa wasn't so sure she wanted the same thing. Safety was great, but where was the excitement, the adventure? Spending your life scared of your own shadow seemed pointless._

Of course, the teenager was now grateful for her father's lessons. _Hell, even if the thing isn't harmed by bullets, just holding this old thing makes me feel better. More in control. _

It was midnight before she started hearing noises. Sounds like her house was being assaulted by something. Bangs and squeals tore at Larissa's eardrums. The young woman stayed in her room, holding onto the pistol for dear life, before hearing the front door squeak open. Then there was nothing but the sound of her own breathing. _Damn it! _The teen considered her options. As far as she knew, there was a supernatural being in her house, and all she had to defend herself was a gun. Larissa had no guarantee the gun would even harm the being, much less kill it. The brunette remembered the promise she had made the day before, to stay in the house and not cause trouble. She felt sick to think of her parents stepping into their house, door broken down, daughter missing. Larissa knew her mother would weep for fear of her daughter's life, and her father would vow to find her alive. But as the silence stretched on, Larissa's heart felt fit to burst, and she knew she didn't fancy meeting that thing face-to-face. The teen threw open her bedroom window, thanked God that her room was on the first floor, and sprinted into the forest. It wasn't long before she knew something was tailing her. _I'd rather kill myself than let that thing get me, _she thought, and sped up. Larissa felt confident in the strength of her legs and lungs. The teenager's young muscles served her well, and adrenaline flooded her, allowing her to run even faster than she had earlier that day.

The monster, however, seemed to have stamina in spades. No matter which way she turned, or how fast she ran, she could always sense the creature just on the verge of catching up with her. Larissa lept over fallen branches and dodged tress. She ran until she thought she could run no longer, and then she kept on going. Finally, her legs gave out from under her. Tears stung her eyes, but she stubbornly wiped them away. If she was going to die, she was going to die facing her death, and cursing that monster all the way to her grave. She'd be damned if she was going into the next world bawling like a newborn. Larissa panted from exertion, and locked her eyes onto the creature's white, featureless face. It moved silently, seemingly unhurried, and certainly no worse for the wear after its hunt. The teenager thought of her parents, of her friends, and of all her dreams. Larissa used every curse word in the dictionary and some she invented just for the occasion as the being moved closer and closer to her. Her ears honed in on rustles coming in from all around her, and bit back a groan. _Great! What next? Minions? The Devil himself? _But shiny arrows whizzed from the trees, clearly aimed for the creature. The sound of bullets closely followed, and Larissa could start to see the features of people, normal human beings, as they melted out of the foliage into her line of sight. The monster stood still for a second. _Is it weighing its options? Go ahead, you bastard, and we'll see if I don't get sent to Hell before tearing you a new one. _As quickly as the thing had appeared the first time she had met it in the forest, it disappeared. A redheaded man with a muscular build cursed loudly and turned away as if disgusted. A tall African American woman frowned seriously and began to speak.

"I thought for sure we had him," she said. A tall young man who had to be around Larissa's age spat on the dirt and laughed.

"We always _almost _have him." He sat on the ground and gestured for the older woman to do the same. An overweight female hovered by the redhead, wringing her hands together.

"Come on and sit with the rest of us," she said, sitting down next to the older woman in the group.

"Yes, we are all in desperate need of rest after traipsing through this accursed forest for most of the day," said the young man. The muscular man turned around and glared at Larissa, who noticed that his eyes were a dark, dismal gray.

"You were supposed to be the bait. You couldn't have held his attention for a second longer?" He stalked toward her and examined her, gray eyes fierce. He sniffed and laughed, though it was anything but a pleasant sound. It was dark, and rough, and bitter, as though he'd never found anything truly amusing in his life and never would.

"That explains it. You're not young enough."

"What the Hell are you talking about?" Larissa exploded, getting to her feet. "Bait? Did you _set _that thing on me?" The overweight teen stood up and held her palms up.

"No, of course not. We just saw that he was hunting you, and well-" The young blonde male cut in.

"We let him. Once he has his eyes set on something, to speak figuratively of course, he rarely gives up of his own accord. We wanted to harm him, to catch him and hopefully kill him, but we needed him to hold still within range long enough for us to accomplish anything."

"We weren't aiming for you to be harmed. Jewel just has a way with words," the woman with dark skin explained. The blonde male laughed.

"That is the nice way of saying that. He is a-"

"Let's not argue," the younger girl interrupted. The group settled, though the redhead-Jewel- still refused to sit down. Instead, he paced, his footsteps a constant undertone to the group's conversation. Larissa introduced herself and discovered that the tall African American was Alberta, the male around her age was Kip, and the female around her age was Carmen.

"What was that thing?" Larissa asked, brushing her brown hair away from her eyes.

"Slenderman," Kip answered casually, stretching out his long legs.

"Slender what?" Larissa massaged her sore muscles.

"A faceless, suit-wearing, child-eating, son-of-a-bitch," came Jewel's answer. Larissa paled.

"He eats children?"

"Yes," Alberta sighed.

"Well, thanks and everything for saving my life," Larissa said, starting to get up.

"Wait," the blonde boy said sharply. "It is not that simple."

"What do you mean?"

"Once he starts a hunt, he is determined to win. If you manage to return home, your family will be in danger. He allows nothing to stand in his way," Alberta said.

"But if he eats children, why does he want me?"

"That is what we are trying to figure out," Kip answered. "As far as we can figure, we're the only people he's attacked that can't be classed as a child or a toddler." Larissa sat and fumed. _So that thing is going to keep me away from my family? _She looked around the group, studying each pair of eyes. Somehow, she had the idea that staying with them would be her best bet. _He'll not have me running like a coward for the rest of my life. I'm going to be there when he's destroyed for good, _the teen promised herself.

"So, are you going to stay with us?" the oldest woman in the group asked.

"Yes," Larissa said. And so she sat in the imperfect circle and waited to see what fate would bring her.


End file.
